Apparatus for drying moist material.



PATENTBD MAY 16, 1905. B. N. TRUMP.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING MOIST MATERIAL.

APPLIOATIOX FILED IAE. 27, 1902.

IHYENTDR Edward J)? .Trwn u maid/5 I nionnzr.

Patented ma 10, 1905.

UNIT D STATE PATENT F EDWARD N. TRUMP, or SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR onvme MOIST MATERIAL.

SPECIFICATION a g part f L tters Patent No. 790,162, dated ma 16, 1905.

Application filed larch 27, 1902. Serial No. 100.266.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD N. TRUMr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented new and useful Ap- 1 paratus for Drying Moist Materials, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for drying moist materials, absorbing gases or vapors, or decomposing and driving 01f gases from materials requiring such treatment or other similar purpose.

My purpose is to bring a. moving current of gas, air, or other treating agent into intimate contact with the material in such a manner as to automatically separate and discharge the finished material as soon as the work is complete, at the same time imparting to or extracting from it the required amount of heat to extract or impart moisture or gas or to decompose the material.

The essential feature of my invention is to induce a current of treating agent which shall actoppositely to the initial movement of the raw material to cause its suspension. but which shall afterward select and carry off with said current the finished material-forinstance, by introducing the particles of material into an upwardly-moving current of treatingagent of varying velocity, by which it is first suspended against the action of gravity, and as its specific gravity is changed by the action of the treating agent its position is automatically changed until the desired purpose is attained and the material discharged.

This application comprises improvements upon the structures set forth in Letters Patent to me, No. 748,893, dated January 5, 1904, for apparatus for drying moist material.

1 accomplish my object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device with the upper part of the stack and separating-chamber in vertical section and'a rheostatcontrolled motor shown diagrammatically.

grammatic view of a rheostat-controlled motor added.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The stack or chamber 1 is disposed vertically and is preferably of uniform cross-section as to its lower extension and then of gradually-increasing area of cross-section toward the upper extension, and fina iy of an accentuated increase of cross-section, terminating in the cylindrical drum 2. Inclosed within this drum 2 is the funnel-shaped receptacle 3,

open'at the top and opening at its lower extension into the conductor 4, which projects through the side of the stack 1. Chamber 3 may be adjustabiy suspended upon the rods 14, secured through the top of drum 2 by nuts 15. The lower end of chamber 3 terminates in pipe 16, adapted to fit neatly in the vertical portion of conductor 4 and vertically movable therein to permit of thevertical adjustment of chamber 3, as above indicated. The dimensions and iocation of the chamber 3 are such as to permit of suflicient space between its outer walls and the surrounding drum 2 for the free passageof the treating agent and the material suspended therein.

By the vertical adjustment of chamber 3 the space between it and the tapering Wall of the surrounding drum may be increased or diminished, as desired. to suit the condition or character of the material or the method of treating same. 1

, Extending through the top of drum 2 and projecting and opening downwardly at a distance from the top of the drum into the receptacle 3 is the conducting-pipe 5, leading back through heater 6 to blower 7. The blower 7 delivers the treating agent into the stack; This blower may be driven by any suitable means, such as the, rhepstat-controlled motor 16, and is connected with the base of the stack 1 in such a manner as to deliver a tangen tial spiral currentto the stack, as is best indi-' pose hereinafter described.

. The feed shown is the ordinary type of screw-feed, though other forms may be equally suitable. It may be driven by the rheostatcontrolled motor 17, so that the same may be regulated to deliver the material at such rate as may be desired. The valve-controlled exit 9, located in conducting-pipe 5, is adapted to permit the escape of the treating agent, while valve-controlled inlet 13 is adapted to receive such additions to the treating agent as may be desirable.

The operation of my device is as follows: The current of treating agent, heated or d ried, if such is desirable, by heater 6, is delivered by the blower 7 at or approximate the base of the stack in a spiral tangent to the sides, which will cause it to have a whirling upward current in a spiral course for the purpose hereinafter explained. The material to be treated is fedinto the stack by the feeding device 8, above or approximate the intake-point of the treating agent. As it encounters the upward spiral current of treating agent it is suspended thereby and as it becomes more finished is carried upwardly by the current of treating agent in a spiral or whirling course. To secure the balancing or suspending by the current of treating agent of the raw material as it first enters the stack, the necessary adjustment is made between the rate of feed of material and the rate or vertical velocity of the current at the point of its encounter with the material, so that the wet or raw material as it enters the stack will be suspended or carried upward by thecurrent of the agent. The vertical velocity of the current becomes partly spent in the gradually-widening spiral course consequent upon the increasing area of cross-section of the stack toward its upper extension, so that at a certain distance above the intakepoint of material the said vertical velocity of the current isinsufiicient to support or suspend the raw or wet-material, but is only sufiicient to suspend the drier or partially-finished material. The point at which the current will not suflice to suspend the raw or wet material will depend upon the adjustment of the initial speed of current, rate of feed, and condition of material and the various respective cross-sections and longitudinal dimensions of the stack.

As above described, by the proper adjustment of the above-mentioned factors of initial speed of current, rate of feed, and cross-section and longitudinal dimension of stack a point exists where the raw or wet material will not be supported by the current; but to be supported at this point the material must be partially finished or dried. It follows that as the area of cross-section of the stack increases as the stack ascends the vertical force or, velocity of the current decreases in like proportion, and consequently the higher in the stack that the material is suspended. the

more completely dried or finished it must be. It will thus be seen that from the point where the current is at first able to suspend the raw or wet material to the top of the stack there is a constant and automatic separation of the finished from the less finished material until the perfectly finished and dried material is delivered at the top entirely free from any of the unfinished portions of the material.

As the treating agent rises in a spiral course upwardly in the stack and around the receptacle 3 it carries with it the finished material held suspended therein. As it strikes the top or the conical-shaped roof of the stack it is deflected downwardly and whirls against the inner vertical walls of receptacle 3. The finished material being heavier than the suspending agent is carried by centrifugal force (not shown) or other suitable receptacle for packing or transportation. The treating agent is drawn first upwardly and then downwardly through the conducting-pipe 5, thence through the heater 6 and blower 7 back to the stack. Thus it is seen the finished material is automatically separated from the unfinished material and then separated from the treating agent and carried off through one exit while the treating agent is discharged through another exit and may be returned in part or in whole through heater and blower to the stack.

As indicated in the first paragraph of the specification, my invention is intended for the drying of moist material or for chemically treating material, and in my use of the term treating in the following claims I mean thereby either the drying of material or the causing of some chemical change in the material treated as distinguished from the'mere mechanical separation "of different particles of a heterogenous mass, such as the separation of wheat from chafi' or any heavier particles from lighter particles.

What I claim is 1. In an apparatus for treating materials, the combination of aseriesof chambers form'- ing a closed circulatory system, a vertical stack as one of said series of chambers terminating at its upper extension in an enlarged chamber or drum, a separator-chamber inclosed within said drum and means for causing an upward current through said stack of an agent for operating upon and transpor ing the material.

"2. In an apparatus for treating materials,

the combination of a series of chambers forming a closed circulatory system, a vertical stack as one of said series of chambers terminating at its upper extension in an enlarged chamber or drum, a separator-chamber inclosed within the drum and communicating the combination of a stack, a blower for delivering a treating agent into the lower extension of the stack and a feed for delivering material into the stack above the intake of the agent, and means for adjustment with re spect to said elements whereby a current of treating agent of decreasing vertical velocity is induced through the material to suspend the same until treated, and a separator-chamber inclosed within the stack.

4. In an apparatus for treating materials, the combination of a stack, a blower for delivering a treating agent into the lower extension of the stack and a feed for delivering material into the stack above the intake of the agent, and means for adjustment with respect to said elements whereby a current of treating agent of decreasing vertical velocity is induced through the material to suspend the same until treated, a separator-chamber inclosed within the stack, and an external condoctor for the agent leading from the upper part to the lower part of the stack.

5. In an apparatus for treating materials, the combination of a stack, a blower for delivering a treating agent into the lower extension of the stack and a'feed for delivering material into the stack above the intake of the agent, and means for adjustment with respect to said elements whereby a current of treating agent of decreasing vertical velocity is induced through the material to suspend the same until treated, a separator-chamber inclosed within the stack, an external conductor for the agent leading from the upper part tothe lower part of the stack, and a heater connected with the conductor.

6. In an apparatus for treating materials, the combination of a stack, a blower for delivering a treating a ent into the lower extension of the stack and a feed for delivering material into the stack above the intake of the agent, and means for adjustment with respect to said elements whereby a current of treating agent of decreasing vertical velocity is induced through the material to suspend the same until treated, a separator-chamber inclosed within the stack, and an external condoctor for the agent leading from the upper part to the lower part of the stack, said condoctor having valve-controlled inlet and outlet means for the agent. I

7. In an apparatus for treating materials, the combination of a stack, a blower for delivering a treating agent into the lower extension of the stack and a,feed for delivering material into the stack above the intake of the agent, and means for adjustment with respect to said elements whereby an aeriform current of decreasing vertical velocity is induced through the material to suspend the same until treated, a separator-chamber inclosed within the stack, conducting means for the agent leading from near the upper part thereof and conducting means for the material leading from the separator-chamber.

8. The combination of a drier-stack gradually increasing in diameter with its height, a separator-chamber inclosed within the stack, means for creating a blast of treating agent through the stack and external conducting means for the agent from the upper part of the stack back to the lower part of the stack.

9. The combination of a drier-stack gradually increasing in diameter with its height terminating in an enlarged chamber or drum at its upper extension, a separator-chamber inclosed within the drum, means for creating a blast of treating agent through the stack and external conducting means for the agent from the drum back to the lower part of the stack.

10. The combination of a drier-stack gradually increasing in diameter with its height, 'a separator-chamber inclosed within the stack, means for creating a blast of treating agent through the stack and means for conducting material when dried fromthe separatorchamber.

11. The combination of a drier-stack gradually increasing in diameter with its height, a separator-chamber inclosed within the top of the stack, means for creating a blast of treating agent through the stack and means connected with the separator-chamber for carrying ofi finished material and means for returning treating agent from the top of the stack back to the bottom of the stack.

12. The combination of adrier-stack gradually increasing in diameter with its height,-

separator-chamber inclosed within the stack of the stack. a

In an apparatus for treating materials, the combination of astack of increasing area of cross-section toward its upper extension, means for inducing an upward current of treat ing agent therein, means for feeding material to be treated into said stack, a separator-chamber inclosed in the upper part of said stack, a conductor connected with the separatorchamber for carrying off the finished material,

an external conductor for said agent, leading l rial during the period of treatment and to from the top of the separator-chamber to the transport the same as it becomes treated, a lower part of the stack and a heater ccnnected separatorchamber inclosed in the upper part therewith. of the treatingchamber for receiving the 5 15. In an apparatus for treating materials, transported material and separating it from S the combination of a. treating-chamber, reguthe treating agent. latable means for introducing into said cham- EDWARD N. TRUMP.

Witnesses:

. J. D. PENNOCK, MAE HOFMANN.

ber material to be treated, means for inducing an upward current of treating agent so as I 10 to entirely suspend the whole mass of mate-- 

